Birthday Party for One

 Yet another year.  Another Christmas and another New Year.  Another birthday.  It finally snowed this week.  I mean, really snowed.  Even though its dangerous and heavy and icy, there is such a beauty in it all.  WInter really is my favorite season.

I worked the holidays.  And my birthday.  I’m not particularly upset about it really.  I have other times when I’ll want the days off more than some arbitrary date.  I have plane tickets to go back to NY for a week in February.  So I’m kind of saving up my celebrating until then.  There have been little moments that I’ve been able to celebrate though.  Shortly after Christmas my aunt and family came into town and spent a night at my hotel.  My one cousin, Matt, came and stayed with me.  We were supposed to sleep, but…  Well, other things became more important.  He’s now 18 and has some how grown into this amazing young man.  He’s no longer a little boy or the tiny infant I once held in my arms.  He and I have a special bond and we ended up spending the whole night awake, drinking and talking.  New Years Eve I ended up working until after 1am.  Clarissa and two lifeguards convinced me to go back to Clarissa’s house and hang out for a while.  I had more fun than I had originally envisioned but was able to leave when their ages and immaturity started to bug me.  Clarissa’s not yet 21 and the two lifeguards were 16 and 19 (maybe 20).  There’s only so much nonsense I can stand before I need to get out.

And tonight…. my birthday night.  It sounds a little pathetic, but it was actually wonderful.  The church had a retirement luncheon for our pastor, from where I had to leave early for work.  Work was a nightmare.  Well, not all bad.  I recently got a raise and some extra responsibility.  So part of work was learning some of my new tasks.  The rest of work was normal nonsense and craziness with Clarissa singing "Happy Birthday" every time things got out of hand.  It was kinda funny, but you definitely had to be there to get it all.

After work, I carefully carefully drove home in the snow and ordered my new favorite pizza from the local place.  The pizza guy and I have been doing some very light flirting and I don’t really expect it to go anywhere, but I like flirting.  Even if he’s only doing it because I’m a customer.  He gave me my pizza for nearly nothing tonight because I mentioned it was my birthday.  Spent some time on FB answering birthday wishes, which I really like doing.  I feel that once a year, I can respond to every post on my wall regarding a birthday message.  I know a lot of people just do the general "Thanks to everyone!" and I probably have done that in the past.  But I kinda like responding to each one, even if all I say is "Thanks."  Its kind of like opening lots of birthday cards one and a time.  Anyways, thats me and I like doing it.  And then I really see who has said something.  And yes, I know the birthday alerts pop up on the side of the screen.  Still.  I like doing it.  But the rest of my evening was spent cuddled up on the couch with a beer, my pizza and the newest episode in Sherlock, my newest TV show love.

BBC Television created a new series last year about Sherlock Holmes, but basing the story in the 21st century.  How in the world would that work?  Well, amazingly well in the hands of these creators.  The first series had 3 90-minute episodes which I stumbled across on Netflix and fell in love with.  Amazing beyond anything.  I mentioned the series to Manny, and to my delight (and perhaps his surprise) he really liked it to.  Sherlock Holmes is the original superhero to me.  My favorite comic superhero is Batman, because he’s not a mutant or bug-bitten or an alien.  He’s an actual human that is just smart and strong and fast.  Yes, there is a little mysticism in there, but he’s not part-bat part-human.  He’s all human.  Well, Sherlock is even more than that to me.  He too is human, but super smart.  There is no reason why those two men couldn’t exist in real-life.  I’ve read all the Sherlock articles written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and just love love love them.  So I loved this series too.  Originally I thought it was a mini-series.  Just the 3 episodes, which ended on the best poignant moment EVER.  If something had to end (as everything must) it was the most perfect way to end it.

Turns out, there is going to be a series 2.  Or there is a series 2?  Not sure how to tense that properly.  Anyways, Manny told me that a series 2 was airing in the UK this month.  So I figured it would be about 6-8 months before it hit the US.  As desperate as I was to see it, I could wait knowing waiting wasn’t forever.  I ended up buying the first series on DVD so I could watch them on my TV.  So wonderful.  A week ago, a package from CBS studios arrived at my door.  Manny, in his amazingness, had recorded episode 1 of the second series and sent it to me for my birthday.  I was so excited I was jumping around my apartment.  The episodes are 90 minutes long and not something I can watch while doing the dishes or cleaning.  I wanted to find a solid two hour chunk of time to really enjoy the episode.  Well, the week was busy and hectic and I didn’t find anytime until tonight.  Which for me, right now, was the most perfect birthday present ever could be given.

My social anxiety has been running full force recently.  I think its from all the day shifts I’ve had to work, and all the hours I’ve put in.  Either way, I just needed some me time.  So the best birthday I could have was spending the evening alone on my couch with pizza, my cat and Sherlock.  I’m not sure its entirely normal, in fact I’m fairly certain its not, but I really need and treasure my alone time.  With all the hours I’m putting in at the hotel and all the hours at church, not to mention all the hours I do want to try and be social, I really need my alone time.

In other news, its nearly 3am and I need to get some sleep.